God and all

[G L Wilson]

G L, how old are you? I don't intend to insult you, I'm just curious. It seems you're in the throes of an ongoing existential crisis. I've been researching correlations between age, maturity, and existentialism. Help me out?

I am 45. It is not a mid-life crisis, it is an ongoing thing with me. It has been going on since I was very young, when I asked my father whether this was all just a dream. I have searched and searched for the truth and the best alternative that I can come up with to death is comedy. But I don't think that I am laughing in the face of death but because of it. I have always been very aware intellectually but socially I am a disaster. I think that I might truly be mad.

[Varenne Rodin]

I am 45. It is not a mid-life crisis, it is an ongoing thing with me. It has been going on since I was very young, when I asked my father whether this was all just a dream. I have searched and searched for the truth and the best alternative that I can come up with to death is comedy. But I don't think that I am laughing in the face of death but because of it. I have always been very aware intellectually but socially I am a disaster. I think that I might truly be mad.

Einstein thought he was mad, because everyone around him seemed mad. That's the burden of higher awareness. You seem sane to me. Repressed, but sane. I don't fit well with typical society either. I'm glad I don't. Be glad you don't.

[tonywalt]

What's the cure for an existential crisis?

I always wondered why women do not get it to the same degree and effect as men. I was told it is because they can or do have children. As for those women who cannot or do not......I am sure they have similiar anxiety.

[G L Wilson]

What's the cure for an existential crisis?

I always wondered why women do not get it to the same degree and effect as men. I was told it is because they can or do have children. As for those women who cannot or do not......I am sure they have similiar anxiety.

It is not anxiety, it's angst. I see no barrier to women getting it in equal measure in this respect.

[Varenne Rodin]

What's the cure for an existential crisis?

I always wondered why women do not get it to the same degree and effect as men. I was told it is because they can or do have children. As for those women who cannot or do not......I am sure they have similiar anxiety.

I don't know who said women don't suffer existential crisis. It's not the same as a midlife crisis. It's simply the realization that death is eventual, and the confusion and despair over the lack of answers. The feeling of alienation from all of the religion pushers. The bitterness over being lied to by delusional adult-infants. It's baffling and even comical to wake up from this real life matrix and understand that 80% or more of the world population is still brainwashed and hindering science to push their god/heaven/hell agenda.

I'm in an existential crisis for sure. It has had an enormous impact on my life. I can't work typical jobs. I have to be doing creative things all the time, I have to be learning all the time, just to feel like I might have a minute chance of making an impact on the world and being remembered for a few decades after I'm gone. It's the only hope I have of prolonging my existence, because I'm certainly not banking on an afterlife. I want to help life on this planet, life that daft humans seem intent on destroying. This affliction has made me a vegetarian. I cannot be responsible for the death of any creature, nor the torture. I rarely sleep. I sculpt clay until my hands cease to function and I'm nearly starving. I endure emails from vapid relatives pleading with me to fear hell and "get right with god." I commit social suicide by being atheist.

Do some women deal with the strange loneliness of being smarter than everyone around them? Yeah, man. There's no "cure" and I can't say I want one. I want a planet of enlightened people. I want not earth.

Bright side? Since I got all angsty people treat me like the female James Dean. Sick sad world.

Being a parent doesn't make it better, it makes it worse

[G L Wilson]

Being a parent doesn't make it better, it makes it worse

I wouldn't know for certain but I would certainly think so. My concern for children is almost crippling, it must be far worse for parents.

[Varenne Rodin]

By giving them life I've sentenced them to death. What tears me apart is wondering which of my loved ones will go next. I hope it's me.

Don't get me wrong, there are fantastic moments. I don't know how other people raise children. Mine are astonishingly brilliant. Funny actors, little scientists, punks, jerks, rockstars. I couldn't wish for a better doomed life.

[tonywalt]

I don't know who said women don't suffer existential crisis. It's not the same as a midlife crisis. It's simply the realization that death is eventual, and the confusion and despair over the lack of answers. The feeling of alienation from all of the religion pushers. The bitterness over being lied to by delusional adult-infants. It's baffling and even comical to wake up from this real life matrix and understand that 80% or more of the world population is still brainwashed and hindering science to push their god/heaven/hell agenda.

I'm in an existential crisis for sure. It has had an enormous impact on my life. I can't work typical jobs. I have to be doing creative things all the time, I have to be learning all the time, just to feel like I might have a minute chance of making an impact on the world and being remembered for a few decades after I'm gone. It's the only hope I have of prolonging my existence, because I'm certainly not banking on an afterlife. I want to help life on this planet, life that daft humans seem intent on destroying. This affliction has made me a vegetarian. I cannot be responsible for the death of any creature, nor the torture. I rarely sleep. I sculpt clay until my hands cease to function and I'm nearly starving. I endure emails from vapid relatives pleading with me to fear hell and "get right with god." I commit social suicide by being atheist.

Do some women deal with the strange loneliness of being smarter than everyone around them? Yeah, man. There's no "cure" and I can't say I want one. I want a planet of enlightened people. I want not earth.

Bright side? Since I got all angsty people treat me like the female James Dean. Sick sad world.

Well articulated. It was damn hard to wake up one day and decide, "hey, I've never wanted to work in the corporate world!" Both my parents were artists, but I did choose practicality over a more creative fulfilling life.

That said, the jury is still out, and I can transition to something else. I damn well have to at this point!

[G L Wilson]

Well articulated. It was damn hard to wake up one day and decide, "hey, I've never wanted to work in the corporate world!" Both my parents were artists, but I did choose practicality over a more creative fulfilling life.

That said, the jury is still out, and I can transition to something else. I damn well have to at this point!

There's nothing stopping you but life itself. Riches are the solution to the question of life. No riches, no luck.

[Varenne Rodin]

Financial freedom definitely assists creative freedom.

[G L Wilson]

Financial freedom definitely assists creative freedom.

There is something about it in Ecclesiastes, it might be worth quoting. I quote too much from the Bible. I have been made to look the idiot on more than one occasion because my use of the Bible was out of context or some such nonsense.

[cl154576]

G L, how old are you? I don't intend to insult you, I'm just curious. It seems you're in the throes of an ongoing existential crisis. I've been researching correlations between age, maturity, and existentialism. Help me out?

I am thirteen, a girl, and diagnosed with severe existential depression. Is this common?

[Calidore]

By giving them life I've sentenced them to death.

Bit of classic philosophy that I think applies here: If you're on a cliff ledge with jagged rocks below you and a hungry tiger above you, and you see a strawberry growing next to you, pluck the strawberry and eat it, and savor it.

Your children were facing unbroken nonexistence anyway had you not had them. You gave them a strawberry (life) to enjoy as best they can.

And if atheism is social suicide for you, it sounds like time to find a new social.

[Varenne Rodin]

I am thirteen, a girl, and diagnosed with severe existential depression. Is this common?

It's very common in extremely gifted young people and gifted adults. It can happen early, as it has for you, or when a person reaches a significant milestone age (30, 40, 50). Sometimes it develops after someone experiences severe emotional trauma.

People of below average intelligence will likely never experience it, and it is very rare for people of average to slightly above average intelligence. It only happens to geniuses. In a way, that sounds like a good thing!

It really shouldn't be treated with medication. If you are brave and determined to create your own purpose in life, and if you converse with like-minded people who are capable of understanding you, your existentialism will lead you to greater maturity. For myself, I've found it best to avoid being too emotionally connected to the ultra religious crowd. I'm glad you found this forum. Welcome!

I recommend reading Dabrowski's theory on existential depression in gifted children and adults. It's helpful.

Isaac Asimov's 'Foundation' series demonstrates how important existentialists can be in any given universe.

Bit of classic philosophy that I think applies here: If you're on a cliff ledge with jagged rocks below you and a hungry tiger above you, and you see a strawberry growing next to you, pluck the strawberry and eat it, and savor it.

Your children were facing unbroken nonexistence anyway had you not had them. You gave them a strawberry (life) to enjoy as best they can.

And if atheism is social suicide for you, it sounds like time to find a new social.

That's very uplifting, Calidore. Thank you.

I've been forming new social connections with as many secular people as I can. At present I am geographically restrained. Separating from childhood family and friends, who really seek to destroy me with religion, is a difficult transition; especially difficult for them, apparently. Luckily for me, the internet was invented.

[mazHur]

''Interesting video!
The unseen, illusion of collective human consciousness, seems, would cease to exist in coming a few centuries. Human dignity lies in the courage, to unburden their thoughts from this collective delusion (schizophrenia) of the presence of the invisible.
A courage of one age becomes norm of the next.''
(comments received from a friend academic)




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s47Ar...layer_embedded